Saturday, November 19, 2016

Following the signing of an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) along with Aircraft & Weapons Package Supply Protocols and Technical Arrangement with the French Government on 23rd September, 2016 for procurement of 36 Rafale aircraft in fly-away condition, the deliveries of the fighter jets will commence from September, 2019, Dr Subhash Bhamre informed the Lok Sabha on November 18, 2016.

The Rs 58,000 crore deal executed by India to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets from France is undoubtedly one the most well negotiated pacts and one that will bring along huge gains for the domestic aviation industry besides creating job openings for the people of India.

This deal is the first since the purchase of Sukhois from Russia in the late 90s and is considered a win-win for India, the most significant feature of this contract being the enhancements for India which even French aircrafts do not have.

In an exclusive chat with DefenceAviationPost.com soon after the signing of the deal, Union Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar said, “In any foreign deal, there are 3-4 things that have to be taken care of. First is the cost, which we have negotiated at a much lesser price than the earlier price being quoted by the French team.”

It is noteworthy to point here that the 7.878 billion Euros deal has been clinched at a price that is 750 million euros less than what was quoted by the French team in January 2016.

“Second is the percentage of offsets which in this case is much higher than any other foreign military sales so far. This creates a huge potential for the domestic aviation industry and is in line with the Prime Minister’s Make in India initiative,” the minister said.
19/11/16 Defence Aviation Post